www.jennycoxillustration.com www.jennyyelllowhat.blogspot.com

Jenny Cox Illustration

Semester Overview

Type of brief: I feel I best respond to a tight brief, this allows me to spend my time problem solving and determining the right mood and inspiration sources for a piece. I think it is very important to pin down the feeling a piece of work should give, so the tighter the brief the clearer the outcome. I also enjoy this type of brief more as it allows me to ex-plore the brief quite deeply and get my head totally invloved with it. However, I do enjoy an occasional loose brief as this often allows me to try out new practices and technique ideas, so allows me to develop as an illustrator and explore my trade, whilst still answering the brief successfully.

Integral elements: I feel I work best working to generate ideas at a fast speed, these initial sketches may be confusing to the viewer but this process allows me to create a range of ideas at a pace that keeps them playful and avoids me holding any ideas back. These are tightend up in later stages to form legible ideas and clear thumbnails. Unless I have a very clear image in my head of the final piece I like to try out slightly varying ideas for the exact imagery as I am creating the pieces to form the finals, for ex-ample when painting and papercutting pieces for the “secret london” piece, I tried out a wide range of plant shapes in order for me to find the right shapes to create the feeling I wanted for the final piece. I try to be very open to changes at this point. This point is very important to my work as it helps to introduce more playful and impulsive/instinctive elements to the image, which have a strong influence on the look and feel of the final piece. I hope to develop this by spending more time on this process as part of my work, even when I do have a very set mental image of how the final piece will look. This is because I have noticed how this has helped my work develop to another level and I want to continue the positive impact this has had.

Success: My strengths include being able to create high quality work at a fast pace, so can respond well to potential tight deadlines. I think I am good at creating illustration that creates an appropriate emotional response, this is achieved through carefully pin-pointing and playful development of an image until it has the impact, creating the feeling I had planned and for in the viewer. Problems: Although I feel I have a good sense of colour this is something I sometimes struggle with pin-pointing at the early stages of a project. I know at this point that I need to get on screen to allow me to try out other colour options. Colour is such an important part of illustration and the slightest wrong tone can change the whole impact of a finished piece.

Personality: I am intensely interested in advertising illustration from the 60’s and all types of patternistic surface design from all eras, I love to study the play between the shapes, colours and layouts involved in patterns and the playful, simplistic skill invloved in illustration from the 1960s. I find it incrediby inspirational. I also have a love of words, Dy-lan Thomas is an increasingly large influence. He plays with words that create an impactful feeling in the same way that a good illustration can. It has been extrememly fun being able to play with these elements in my work, using the simplicity of 60’s illustration to help pin-point the neccessary communicative elements in an illustration and playing wih patteristic elements to see how the illustration can be visualy playful and stretche dto create new layers of visual interest.incorporating words through hand-drawn type. I would like to proceed creatvely by continuing to explore my illustrative practices into 3D elements, I have plans to develop my skills incorporated with ceramics, wood and a collaboration with an established surface designer, aswell as continuing to develop my illustration skills through editorial and any other 2d form of illustration I can find!

Visual project summary

Project 1: S&D Weddding Invites Project 2: Roses Awards Project 3: Little White Lies Project 4: YCN for Triumph Project 5: AOI Secret London

Project 13: Tin Re-Packaging

Project 6: Closet Nostalgia Project 7: Czech Papercuts Project 8: T-shirt design Project 9: Undergrowth Ink print

Project 10: Computer Arts Project 11: The *Teashed mug design Project 12: Evermade screenprint

Project Introductions Project 1: Self-assigned brief, create a set of wedding ceremony and evening celebration invites to fit a summer country wedding in Devon, wild flowers requested. Communicate event mood whilst clearly communicating and highlighting event information without sacrificing pretty feel of design. Target audience - client young proffessional, design to appeal to and be accessible for ages 18-80. Project 2: Roses Student Awards brief, create an advertising campaign for the company A Quarter Of.com. Create an advertisitng campaign that would stand out from the mass of other confectionary advertising on display, and make the company stand out. Target audience- young to middle aged adults with a childhood love of sweets. Project 3: D&AD Student competition illustration brief with Little White Lies Magazine. Create a cover illustration for a film from a specified list, the cover must feature a portrait of the lead character, portray the mood of the film and incorporate the film title in the image. Target audience- young people with an interest in film, illustration and design. Project 4: YCN student competition brief to design instore POS range pieces to communicate the benefits to be gained from a Triumph bra fitting service. Create eye catching designs, transferable to multiple scales and POS items that effectively advertisises the fitting service. Target audience- women shopping in Triumph underwear stores and departments

Project 5: AOI cometition brief to create a large scale poster than can be used to promote and celebrate trasport for london. Design must work well at a large scale and also be adaptable for use in surface design items. Target audience- London citizens and visitors to the city. Project 6: Briefed by editor to create an editorial illustration for Clare Market Review to communicate an article on partially regretting ‘coming out’. Create an illustration for a sensitive subject with a very tight deadline. Target audience- students in London. Project 7: Briefed by Petra Blahova to create papercut illustrations for a book to celebrate little known days of celebration in the Czech calender. Limited colour options through coloured paper stocks, limited colour palettes. Designs must create attractive pre-agreed layouts. Final book intended to appeal to young designers and the culturally curious. Project 8: Brief from tutor Tony Peart. Create a t-shirt design to sell via the University final show. Colourful, eye catching, appealing to a wide audience and to fit with the balloon theme. Young people and adults visiting the University final show.

Project 9: Briefed by a family member to create a large scale print to promote and boost sales of the handmade dip-pens used to create it. Design had to show the potential of the product and attract attention amoung many other pieces of art. Target audience- contemporary and amateur artisits visiting an art fair. Project 10: Commission from Computer Arts magazine. Create an editorial piece to illustrate the iportance of recieving and promoting good feedback in the design indusrty. Illustration had to work well at a small scale and be delievered in a reasonably tight deadline. Piece had to mirror the style of highlighted previous items of my work. Target audience- wide range of members from the design industry. Project 11: Briefed by The *Teashed tea and homeware company to create a design to be sold via their website to promote the company and myself as a new young designer. Design had to be in-keeping with the identity of the company, aswell as it having strong colours to allow it to transfer well to a ceramic transfer. Target audience- wide range, tea drinkers of the world! Project 12: Briefed by Evermade.com via an in-collective competition from the Just Us collective to create a 3 colour screen print design on the topic of “London Etiquette”. Limited and pre-determined colour palette, design must be easily transfered into a screen print using flat colour. Target audience- young designers and proffessionals.

Project 13: Self-initiatiaed brief to re-design packaging for tins of vegetables for the supermarket Sainsburys. Design must be in-keeping with vintage-style fish tin design found during research. Limited colour palette. Target audience- wide range of consumers who shop in Sainsburys supermarket.

Project 1 Title: S&D Weddding Invites SOURCE- Looking at inspirational plant forns, sketching intial ideas for layout and form, resourcing inspirational images from event theme. TRANSFORM-Layputs focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. Gather and check any information key to design. PRODUCTION-Purposeful drawings for final pieces. Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 2 Title: Roses Awards SOURCE- Looking at inspirational sources i.e following nostalgia trend, festival of Britian. Sketching intial ideas for layout and mark making. TRANSFORM-Layputs focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making, meterials and colour options. Initiial tests of colour and layout at true scale. Gather and check any information key to design. PRODUCTION-Purposeful drawings for final pieces. Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 3 Title: D&AD Little White Lies SOURCE- Looking at film for inspiration include observations in sketching intial ideas for layout and colour and content, Research era of film for visual information. TRANSFORM-Layputs focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. Gather and check any information key to design. PRODUCTION- Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs. Tweaking of on-screen work with test prints for colour and layout off-screen.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 4 Title: YCN for Triumph SOURCE- Looking at existing POS and other Triumph designs, sketching intial ideas for layout and form, noting down/sketching out intitial thoughts. TRANSFORM-Layputs focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. Gather and check any information key to design. PRODUCTION-Drawings/papercuts for final pieces. Photoshoot current Triumph bras on models. Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 5 Title: AOI Secret London SOURCE- Looking back through sketchbooks whilst at london and own photos, sketching intial ideas for layout, resourcing inspirational images from online searches. TRANSFORM-Layputs focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. Gather and check any information key to design. PRODUCTION-Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 6 Title: Closet Nostalgia SOURCE- Highlight key points in article. Sketch out original ideas, research gay stereotypes through examples given in article. Create sketches to visualise these factors. TRANSFORM-Layputs focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. Gather and check any information key to design. PRODUCTION-Purposeful drawings for final pieces. Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 7 Title: Czech Papercuts SOURCE- Looking at inspirational images from the culture, sketching intial ideas for layout and form, colaborating with designer on these elements. TRANSFORM-Layputs focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for paper medias and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. Gather and check any information key to design. Tracing and ammending to draw out plans according to enlarged thumbnails. PRODUCTION-Select final colour pallettes , approved by designer. Papercut layers for final pieces. Create finals and prepare for photographing, tidy up, mount etc.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 8 Title: T-shirt Design SOURCE- Sketch out initial ideas along balloon theme TRANSFORM-Focus on details of piece, layout of balloon shapes, drawings traced until image plan looks complete. Experimentation for mark making and colour op-tions. Initial papercut tests and layout at true scale. PRODUCTION-Purposeful drawings for final pieces. Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 9 Title: Undergrowth Ink print SOURCE- Sketch out intitial ideas, quick project based on previous print. TRANSFORM-Draw plant forms from memory, books to hand and selected online images. PRODUCTION-Scanned in drawings and digital collage pieces assembled on-screen and played with.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 10 Title: Computer Arts Magazine Editorial SOURCE- Sketch out intitial ideas. TRANSFORM-Layouts focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. PRODUCTION-Purposeful drawings and papercuts for final pieces. Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 11 Title: The *Teashed Mug Design SOURCE- Inititial thumbnails and drawing, resourcing visual language from festival of Britiain and Edward Bawden, comparing to *Teashed persona. TRANSFORM-Drawings for final piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of colour and layout at true scale. PRODUCTION- Experimentation with colour, re-draws of some items. Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 12 Title: Evermade Screenprint SOURCE- Ititial sketches and developments of basic ideas. TRANSFORM-Layouts focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. PRODUCTION-. On screen play with final images and fixed limited colour scheme.Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Project 13 Title: Sainsburys tin re-packaging SOURCE- Looking at inspirational packaging, sketching intial ideas for layout and form, resourcing inspirational images from product theme. TRANSFORM-Layputs focused on devloping the design into a coloured and detailed piece. Experimentation for mark making and colour options. Initiial tests of col-our and layout at true scale. Gather and check any information key to design. PRODUCTION-Purposeful drawings for final pieces. Mocked up final pieces and development on-screen of final designs.

REALISE-final pieces.

Awards and Achievements Just Us Collective member 2012 Runner Up (top 20) for “The Bloody Chamber” book illustration competition from House of Illustration and The Folio Society. Live Work Experience at Gardiner Richardson, Newcastle august 2011-present day Recent commissions from Computer Arts magazine, Clare Market Review, Xanobia branding company and Crutes law.